An Unfinished Tale
by Chicanery A. Beguile
Summary: Eight friends get sucked into a book and have to forge their own way through Middle Earth almost 3000 years before Frodo's time.
1. The discovery

"Z, Y, X,..." I was in Borders, the book store, looking for a book by Jules Verne, Twenty-thousand Leagues Under the Sea to be exact, but every other time I've looked it hasn't been there, "W, V, Vy, Vu, Vr, Vo, come on where is it? Vi, Ve! Verne!" There was only a book I had already read there, The Mysterious Island, a good book but not the one I was looking for.  
I was getting up to leave after giving the books one more reassuring glance to make sure I hadn't overlooked them when something caught my eye. It was a small series of eight, leather-bound books. At least it looked like a series but all the books were the same each were done by unknown authors and each were called An Unfinished Tale.  
The books seemed to call out to me like a sad puppy in the shelter, right before they take it into the back room. It looks at you and just begs you to take it home, to save it. So, I reached out and took the first one off the self. I opened it to the tittle page and began to flip through it. I didn't get very far before I literally dropped the book. The book landed with the dedication page open with my name staring straight up at me. There it was in plane black and white, "Dedicated to Joelle Nicole Personett." The book was dedicated to me, no one ever dedicates anything to me! I looked at the other seven books still on the shelf. Were those also dedicated to me?  
I grabbed the next one off the shelf and opened it to the dedication page. I nearly dropped that book too not because it was dedicated to me, it wasn't, but because it was dedicated to one of my best friends Candice Jenkins.  
I looked at the other six, leather-bound books now sitting innocently on the shelf with a mixture of foreboding and curiosity. I could probably guess who the rest of the books were dedicated to. We're a group of tightly knit friends the eight of us are. In school we'd be considered the geeks or the weirdoes, we just want be ourselves, at lunch people dare other people to sit at our table or throw food, bottle caps, and even dimes at us. Our names are Candice Jenkins, Cassie Clark, Melissa Kass, Krista Payton, Sarah Holthouser, Skye Woestehoff, Josh McArthur, and me Joelle Personett the eight of us formed the Brotherhood of the Lemur (inside joke, don't ask). Seeing as how there are eight books and eight of us each one was probably dedicated to one of us, but just to make sure I thought I should probably check.  
I reached up to grab the next one but stopped short thinking about that stupid saying "Curiosity killed the cat," but then I thought, screw that, the cat has nine lives and there are only eight books. I grabbed it, sure enough the book was dedicated to Cassie Clark. I checked the other ones and they were true too. Then I flipped to the character page of each book. The character drawings looked like my friends and myself and were actually ones that we had invented of ourselves.   
I sat there puzzled for a moment not knowing exactly what to think of this discovery. Was this some extremely elaborate practical joke if it was, my complements to the joker, it was pulled off brilliantly. But if it isn't, what then, what's it supposed to mean?  
The ringing of my cell phone snapped me back to reality and I looked at the display screen and saw that it was my dad. "Does he ever stop calling me?" I mumbled at the phone as I opened it up. "Hello?"  
"Hi sweetheart! Want to come out to the hanger and help me out?" he always wanted me to come out there.  
"Sorry I can't I just meet up with some friends and we were going to see Return of the King and then get some supper." not exactly a lie, an idea had just crossed my mind.  
"Oh well, tell your friends that they can come out to the hanger too and haven't you already seen that movie two times?"  
I laughed, "Yes, but I want to see it again and more of my friends are here too."  
"Well OK, have fun. I'll see you at home, bye!"  
"Bye!" I hung up and then went straight to my phone number list and called Candice.  
"Hi, this is Joelle. Could I please speak to Candice?" I said as soon as someone had picked up.  
"Speaking."  
"Oh hi Candice! You have to come to Borders right now!" I practically yelled.  
"Why?"  
"Because I found these books, about us"  
"What?! Are you joking?" sometimes we liked to screw around with each others heads, one time Cassie almost convinced us that she was pregnant, but I don't think she'd ever do that accidentally.  
"No I found them in the U section they're by an unknown author and are called An Unfinished Tale. They have our own characters in them, and they're each dedicated to one of us" I tried to convince her.  
"Who's us?" she asked  
"You, me, Krista, Mell, Cassie, Josh, Sarah, and Skye that's who."  
"OK so then what's my character look like?" she was testing me but it wouldn't work.  
"It's a Mew of course." I replied knowing she already had a comeback for that.  
"But you already knew that I would've been a Mew."  
"Well how many people know that I would be a red Griffin furry, and know exactly which weapons I would use: two Elvish blades, an Elvish dagger, a whip, and a bow and arrows." I pleaded with her trying to make her believe me.  
"I would know because you just told me."  
"Well fine don't believe me." my attempt at reverse psychology.  
"Well OK fine. What are the others?" she was starting to believe me a little.  
"Well, Mell's a vampire, Josh and Cassie are elves, Krista's a fairy, Skye's a Mew/Fairy, and Sarah's a fox furry." I laid the books open as I read them off.  
"Wow! That's weird. I still don't believe you. How much are they paying you 'cause it's not enough." I'd lost.  
"Candice please believe me!" Now I was begging.  
She sighed, "Look, buy the books and then bring them to school Monday."  
"All right, you'll have to pay me back though. Oh Candice, could I interest you in going to see Return of the King with me and as many other people that I can get to come?" I had remembered what I had told my dad.  
"You are determined to get me to the mall aren't you?" I couldn't help but smile at that, "I guess I could come I've got nothing better to do."  
"OK! Call Mell and see if she wants to come and tell her, if you think she'll believe, about the books. Tell her to call Krista then you call Sarah. I'm going to call Cassie, Josh, and Skye. So, see you in about a half-hour?"  
"OK, see ya! bye."  
"Bye!" I hung up. Now to convince Cassie. I called her up and the conversation went about he same but finally I got her to come see the movie after she called Josh. Now I had to call Sarah, this was simply to get her to come see the movie, I was tired of arguing. I only hoped that every one else had been called and could come. 


	2. The beginning

A half hour later, after I had bought the books and walked over to the movie theaters, we were all buying our tickets for the two o'clock showing of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.  
There was about twenty minutes until it started, so, after we found our seats I pulled out the books I'd bought and passed them out to everyone.  
"What's this?" Sarah said.  
"The real reason we're all here." Candice answered for me.  
"She didn't tell you?" Cassie said referring to me.  
I smiled sheepishly, "I would've told you but, arguing with these two," I pointed to Candice and Cassie, "wore me out and I thought you probably wouldn't believe me anyway."  
"Well, you're right, I probably wouldn't have." she agreed.  
"Well, go ahead and look through them." I prompted them. "I think they're pretty cool. I've already started reading mine, it's quite interesting."  
"What are they about?" Sarah asked.  
"If I knew I wouldn't bother to read it." I pointed out to her as an answer, "But, I think it's about us, our character in our head, and a journey that they go on."  
"Are we all together on the journey?" She asked me as if I knew everything.  
"Well each of us has our own book, so I'm not sure." I replied, "The beginning of mine's just a big, long, character bio and history, but it's good."  
"Bio and history?" Sarah asked.  
"Yes. It says the main character, a red Gryphon named Narwakwesse, was born and raised in the shadow of Mount Gundabad, where the Grey Mountains and the Misty Mountains meet.  
"Gryphons have all the strengths, and weakness', of cats and birds. They have the body, hind legs, and tail of a wild cat and the head, wings, and talons of a bird of prey. They have all the exceptionally strong senses of birds, great hearing, seeing, and smelling, perfect for hunting. They stand most of the time on their two back feet only getting down on all fours to chase down their prey. They are the ultimate predator, attacking form the air or the land. They prefer to use their own natural weapons, their talons and claws, over handmade weapons like swords, spears, and bows and arrows; though, if taught how they would be the quintessential weapons' master. They are born athletes, strong fliers, runners, and jumpers, if they were in modern times they'd be great at all track and field events.  
"Gryphons are an ancient, semi nomadic race; though, they have settled at the base of Mount Gundabad they move around throughout the Grey Mountains. They are a peaceful race, preferring to use their clever brains to resolve conflicts, and have almost no history of wars or even battles.  
"Narwakwesse has a younger sister named Karanikwesse who's also a red Gryphon. They haven't been getting along recently, like really not been getting along, and that's where the story stops, after that the pages are all blank."  
"Blank!?!" Josh asked.  
"Yep," I said showing everyone the pages as I flipped through them, "look."  
"Well that's strange." Candice said, bewildered.  
"Yeah. Look through yours and see if they have blank pages too." I said hoping for some kind of conformation.  
"Mine are blank."  
"Yeah so are mine."  
"Well would ya look at that, mine too."  
"I think everyone's are blank after about the first twenty pages." Krista observed.  
"Maybe they're one of those write your own story books." Candice pointed out.  
"Well if they are then the main character in my book is going to kill her sister for all the things she's said and do to her." I said vehemently, "She pisses me off!"  
There was still a lot of time till the movie started and everyone decided to read their book. Almost everyone was done be the time the opening commercials started, and by the time they were finished and the movie started everyone was done.  
I really wasn't feeling all there when I was watching the beginning of the movie;though, it was my favorite out of the three I couldn't help myself form feeling drowsy. I guess I must have drifted off, because all of a sudden I was being shaken awake by two, bony, taloned hands. 


	3. The appearance

"Narwakwesse, time to get up!!" The owner of the two, bony, taloned hands was saying as they shook me.  
        "All right, all right." I said, finding I had no trouble responding to the name I'd just been called. That scared me, and I sat straight up in bed hitting my head on the beamed ceiling. "Ouch!" I opened my eyes. Where was I, I wondered, where had I been? I couldn't remember anything. I rubbed my aching head and nearly sliced my scalp off. "Ahhh!!" My hands were now taloned bird feet. I laid back down and closed my eyes, maybe this was a dream, but how could this be a dream when I hit my head on the ceiling it hurt. I sat up straight again and got the same result: pain, now it had been proven that this wasn't a dream. Shit, I thought, the same questions came back to me: where was I, where had I been, had I just been called Narwakwesse? I looked around the room. There was a small oil lamp on a small four drawered dresser, the walls were exposed wood beams, and the ceiling was thatched supported by wood beams. All the wall space was covered with tapestries, weavings, full shelves, and anything else that took up space. Not a bare spot to be found. I almost smiled, it reminded me of someplace I had been before, and it gave me comfort. I got out of bed, I slept on the top of a bunk bed, and went over to the dresser. The floor was dirt, but I didn't seem to mind. There was a mirror on the wall to the left of the dresser, and I caught a glimpse of myself in it. I did a double take and almost fell over. I had wings!! They were a bright fiery red sprinkled with darker red speckles. I fluttered them and then reached out and stroked one of the feathers. It was soft, and very real. I had a beak!! It was hanging wide open in surprise right now so I shut it and then reached up and touched it to make sure it was real, it was. I had a tail!! It was of the same fiery red as my wings with golden spots encircled by darker red. the fur on it was very thick, fluffy, and soft when I touched it. I had fur!! It was red and spotted like my tail, not quite as fluffy but just as thick and soft as it. My hair was long and fiery red as usual. Also my arms and hands were those of a bird of prey and my legs and feet were those of a cat.   
        Suddenly realization came crashing down on top of me and I felt myself collapse onto my knees. I was in the book. I was inside the book I had bought at Borders. I was the main character Narwakwesse. I was in the small village the Gryphons had established at the base of Mount Gundabad. And I was a Gryphon.  
        I must've fainted because someone was standing over me and yelling my name when I awoke.  
        "Narwakwesse are you all right?!?" an older looking dark brown Gryphon said worriedly.  
        "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I just must've fell out of bed. Didn't sleep well last night; still tired." I mumbled.  
        "All right if you're sure." she said. I don't know how I figured it was a she, it just seemed fitting.  
        "Yes. I'm sure I'm fine. I need to get dressed." I said trying to get her to leave.  
        "All right hurry up. You've got things to do." Really, I wondered to myself, what kinds of things?  
        I took another look in the mirror and congratulated myself for not fainting. Then I opened up the dresser.  
        There wasn't a big selection of clothes in the top drawer so I closed it and opened the next one down. This one had more in it, but just to make sure I didn't miss anything I opened and looked through the bottom two drawers too. The second to bottom drawer had the same type of clothing as the first, and the bottom one the same as the second, only the clothes were smaller in the bottom two drawers than the two top ones.  
        Well having read the book I remembered that the main character had a younger sister so that meant that the clothes in the two bottom drawers were hers and the ones in the top two were mine. That also solved the mystery of who slept on the bottom bunk.  
        Now what to wear? I looked out the small, stained glass window, as was my habit, to figure out what I was going to wear. I always looked out side to see what the weather was like so I wouldn't be over or underdressed. Due to the stained glass; though, it was hard to tell, and since there was no thermometer or news announcer on the radio I had no idea what the weather was like, plus I think it was still dark outside.  
        I started looking through the dresser trying to get an idea of what I should wear. Let's see, the weather back home was a Coloradan spring, which meant that it could snow one day and be summer-like the next. Wow, that helped a lot, not!  
        I decided to give it up and just go have breakfast. I walked out the door realizing I had no idea where the kitchen was. Fortunately my door opened up right into it. Well actually it opened up into the main room which was used as everything, living room, dining room, kitchen, and anything else that couldn't be in the bedrooms, save the bathroom which I think was in an outhouse outside.  
        The dark brown Gryphon that had been there when I awoke from my faint was sitting at the rickety, wooden, table in the center of the room.  
        "Hi!" I said hi to everyone. "I couldn't deiced what to wear." I said hoping she would give me a clue on what to wear.  
        "Well, today looks like it's going to be warm, and you have hunting, and flying lessons all day so I'd dress accordingly." She said. So that's what the "things" were that I had to do today.  
        "Thanks. I'll go get dressed now." I turned around to go back into the room I'd just come out of, but stopped short, "What year is it?" I slipped in casually.  
        "It's 3441 of the second age. Why?" she asked.  
        "Oh, no reason." I lied, and turned back around and went back into my room.  
        Inside my brain was screaming that this wasn't possible. After I got over the denial phase I tried to remember from what I had read out of the appendixes of the "Lord of the Rings" book what had happened in that year. All I could remember was that something ended, I had read it so long ago.  
        Back in present times. What was I supposed to wear to go hunting and flying? I looked through the top two drawers again. Everything was so skimpy, like bikinis, I guess so it wouldn't weigh me down when I was flying, or make noise when I was hunting, or maybe I didn't need much clothing since my fur would keep me warm enough.  
        I pulled out some comfy, slightly old looking clothes from the top drawer, because the clothes in the top drawer looked like the type for warm weather, and tried to put them on. At first, I forgot I had a tail and wings and almost ripped them. Finally, I figured out how to put my clothes on, and I walked back into the main room.  
        "What's for breakfast?" I asked.  
        The older, dark haired Gryphon laughed, and said, "I don't know! Depends on what you catch."  
        That surprised me, of course, but I guess it made sense, a little. I closed my beak which had fallen open in surprise, grumbled, "Of course.", and walked out what I assumed was the front door. Not watching where I was going I ran head on into a blonde Gryphon about to knock on the door.  
        "Hi, Narwakwesse." The Gryphon said cheerily, despite being bowled over. "Ready for today's lessons?"  
        "Umm... Sure." I said, completely lying.  
        "All right then let's go!" She started walking off, "Well, come on." I jogged a little to catch up and then followed her out of town a little ways, and into a pine forest. All the while I was thinking that I was starting to like this place. I was who I always wanted to be, doing what I always wanted to do. I liked this. I decided I'd stay for a while, plus I really had no choice. How was I supposed to get back to wherever I was before anyway? 


	4. The deed

We walked into a small clearing. The sun was just barely touching the top of what I was pretty sure was Mount Gundabad, turning the snowcap a vibrantly glowing, pastel pink. I loved watching the sun rise like that. Setting every mountain top ablaze in pink, then crawling further down the slope it would turn it fiery orange, then, like a forest fire spreading, it would make its way into the forest at the foothills of the mountains and set the tops of the trees on fire with golden light, and then, like a fire being quenched, the color would fade and die and the normal day would begin, in the normal light.  
The only time I ever normally got up early enough to watch the sun rise was when I was in middle school. In the winter, as my mom drove me the short fifteen minutes to my school, I would look out the window and watch everything light up in the bright pastel colors of the morning. I'd watch the clouds first, then the sky on the horizon where the sun would soon rise, and then the mountains all display the colorful, Coloradan sun rise.  
Since I was watching this I wasn't paying much attention to my walking, in fact I think I actually stopped walking altogether, and just stood there and watched the sun rise.  
"Come on Narwakwesse, you'll get to see it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Now hurry up or we'll be late." The blonde Gryphon urged me.  
I started walking again, and then, noticing that the blonde Gryphon was running I sped up my pace, catching up to her. We entered neck-and-neck into a much larger clearing, and came to a stop next to a group of Gryphons that looked about our age.  
"You're late!" A stern voice said over all the other socializing Gryphons.  
"Sorry," the blonde gryphon apologized, "it wasn't my fault, Narwakwesse just stopped to watch the sun rise, I tried to make her hurry, but we're late anyway."  
The stern Gryphon sighed, "Let's begin. First we'll do some drills and then we'll do a hunt or two."  
The drills weren't too bad, I caught on pretty quick, like an athlete who was a little out of practice, but got back into the swing of things very fast. We practiced tracking, stocking, chasing, pouncing, and finally how to kill our prey item.  
It was a little before midday when the stern, silver haired Gryphon, who was obviously our teacher called for a break, and then said that after the break was over we'd begin the hunt.  
"Pair up! Pair up!" The teacher instructed, "You and your partner are to 'hunt' each other. One of you will stay here while you partner goes off into the forest. You'll give them a five minute head start, and then follow their trail. Every time one person finds and catches the other you both come back here, switch roles, and do it again. Remember the rules! No flying, no rough housing, and no dilly-dallying around, remember this is training for your real life, this is how you're going to provide for your family when you are older. Now begin!!!" One Gryphon from each of the pairs took off running into the forest, I was one of those Gryphons.  
I took off into what I though looked like the most densest part of the surrounding forest. He said no flying, but he didn't say I couldn't use the trees, I thought to myself. With one small leap I was up in the lower branches of the tree above me and with another small leap I was moving through the treetops.  
I did zigzags, and loops, all over the place. I didn't stop moving even though I thought my partner would never be able to track me.  
Upon hearing movement directly beneath me I suddenly froze. Had my partner caught up with me already? I looked down, something red was crouched down, hiding out of sight, stalking someone I couldn't see. Suddenly, I recognized who it was that was down beneath me, it was Karanikwesse, my little sister in the story. A blinding hatred swelled up inside me and for a moment I saw red. Actually, it was for more than just a moment that I saw red, and heard a voice that echoed in my head, "Going to kill her, going to kill her, to kill her, kill her, kill her, KILL HER!!!" I couldn't control myself, red kept flying in my vision, my face; splashing up in it, drenching it. Before I knew what had happened I was being dragged backwards by two pairs of very strong talons.  
"Keep a good hold on her!" Someone commanded. One pair of talons forced me to my knees while the other grabbed my talons and held them tightly behind my back.  
More Gryphons were gathering, I could hear them. I could also hear something moaning in the background. "You two! Get some help from the village!" the same voice that had spoke earlier barked.  
My vision was clearing and I focused on my beak, it was dripping with blood. I looked around startled. Was it my blood? I did a quick visual sweep of my body, I was scratched and bleeding, but not very badly. Then I saw what was groaning, it was my sister. She looked like she'd been mauled by a wild beast. Then I realized that the blood on me was hers, I had mauled her. I tried to get up, shake myself, run away, anything to make this horrible vision stop. I was afraid of what I had done, what I had heard, what was going to happen to me. Wait, what had I heard? That echo sounded familiar, then I realized I had said that, earlier somewhere, before I was here. Had I really, just by saying it, written a part of the book, a part of my fate as a character in the book? I panicked and tried to escape, and received a blow to my head that kept me stunned for a while.  
When I regained enough sense to figure out what was going on it was too late. I was bound, hands, feet, and wings, and lying on the floor of what I could only guess was the "city hal" of this village, receiving my sentence.  
Someone was speaking high above where I lay on the floor, "and for attempted murder I banish you from our humble village." Banish?!?! Hey, I didn't even get a fair trial!! I didn't get the chance to plead insane, and hearing voices in my head. Wait, that probably would've made things worse, since people are probably highly superstitious. I sighed inwardly, at least they weren't going to execute me. "You are to leave tonight immediately." Does that mean I don't get a chance to shower off or get medical attention or have something to eat? 


	5. The punishment

And to think the day had started out so nice. I was ridge soaring over the Misty Mountains on a beautiful wave in the evening, before the coolness of night stilled the winds. I was covered in my sisters dried blood, and my stomach was growling in protest to not being fed all day.  
        What a long day, I thought, and getting longer.  
        As Greenwood darkened beneath me, I failed to notice the sky darkening above me. Two, giant talons dove at me, they were attached to a Fell Beast which was being ridden by a Nazgul. The Fell Beast came baring down on me like a bat out of hell. I did a barrel roll down and to the right, and then went into a dive. I if was truly the character I had dreamed up in my head then I would be able to out fly it, I was the fastest thing around, on land and in the air. I dove down into the depths of the darkening forest of Greenwood in the hopes of losing the beast.  
        Now flying below the treetops I could hear the giant wing beats of the Fell Beast as flew above me, searching me out by sent, since it couldn't see me. My wings beat noiselessly in the dead air, two more brilliant characteristics, I was as silent as an owl and as able to fly in dead air as a Gyrfalcon, and just as fast as one too. I could fly sixty miles per hour, horizontally, in dead air. I was also as agile as a Goshawk, and could maneuver through the trees as easily as if it were an open field. I also had the night vision of an owl so I could see every little detail as if it were high noon.  
        After I had flown around under the cover of the trees in dizzying circles, covering the whole forest of Greenwood twice over, I was sure, the wing beats of the Fell Beast disappeared and everything fell into a deep uneasy silence. I was so exhausted the next tree I came to I landed in and, having sunk my claws deep into the bark of it, rested.  
        There was movement below me , but I dismissed it as some forest animal, big mistake. When I finally did wake up enough to relive what had made the sound it was too late.  
        Smoke was curling up around me and the temperature of the air was stifling. I decided to use the warm rising air to take off and fly away from the fire, another big mistake. No sooner had I taken off than a Fell Beast launched out of the forest and pounced on me. I tried to dodge but I was so tired and the smoke made me heady.  
        The Fell Beast crushed me to the ground in the middle of a previously used battle field. The dead lay everywhere, Elf, Man, Orc, beast, all dead, it must've been a slaughter. I landed near the body of an Orc, it had an elven sword stuck in its stomach. I yanked it out and hacked at the Fell Beast's talons. It immediately jumped up into the air, freeing me. When it brought its head down to see what had injured it I hacked it clean off, it jared my arm in return.  
        Still in shock and pain from what I had just done I wasn't able to move out of the way of the rest of the Fell Beast as its dead weight fell on top of me, pinning me under its thick neck. My feet, and tail lay on one side of the beasts neck, and my head, arms, and wings on the other. All the air was crushed out of my lungs seemingly never to return.  
        Now I was trapped, and the Nazgul that commanded the beast was not to pleased about what I had done to his ride. I heard a sword being unsheathed. I still had my sword, the one I'd borrowed from a dead Orc's belly, but it was sandwiched between my body and the dead Fell Beasts, and it was in my jarred and useless arm.  
        As I struggled to draw breath I heard the sound of boots landing on the ground and walking in my direction.  
        The Nazgul stood over me like a cloud blocking out the stars. His sword glinted coldly as he held it, ready to strike. I dove my free, left hand under the Fell Beast in hopes of drawing out the sword that was pinned there, but the Nazgul's blade was already slicing up that arm, making it bloody and useless. Now the sword moved over my heart, dripping blood, my blood.  
        I heard a pounding in my head, at first I thought it was my heart but the rhythm didn't sound right. Then I realized it was the sound of feet, an army of them, coming closer. Were they friend of foe?  
        The Nazgul didn't hear them. He raised his sword straight up, the tip still pointing at my heart. The Nazgul let out a terrible shriek as he brought his sword down. Half way through the plunge; though, he hesitated just long enough for me to move so that the blow would not be fatal.  
        Two flaming arrows lodged themselves in the Nazgul's head. He screeched a horrifying sound, and dropped the sword letting it completed its journey into my left shoulder. I screamed like I never knew I could. It buried itself deep inside before grinding around and falling to the ground next to me. The pain was agonizing and I lay there paralyzed, now both arms useless and near fainting.  
        A small battle raged around me. More fiery arrows, and steel blades cutting down every living thing in sight. More elves and men fell, more Orcs and beasts lay dead. One Warg that had managed to stay alive found my right leg and attempted to rip it off. I kicked it in the side of its head, breaking its neck and bruising the bottom of my left foot.  
        I tried to keep conscious enough to be aware of what was happening around me, but I was loosing blood so fast. Everything around me kept swirling around and fading in and out of black. Finally everything fell silent, and I wondered weather the battle was over or if that meant I was dead. I panicked when the latter thought hit me, and cried out. It wasn't very loud, in fact it was quite quiet, but still someone heard me.  
        A face appeared, floating above me in my foggy vision. Not elf or man, it looked familiar though, and friendly. The face spoke to me but I couldn't hear it. I tried to say that I couldn't hear them but everything was spinning again and fading to black, I hoped that the face, swimming in my darkening vision, was not the last thing I'd ever see. Everything went black and all feeling left me. 


	6. The invitation

I felt warm, something heavy was lying on top of me, a blanket. I heard voices from far off talking in hushed tones. I couldn't make out the words. I smelled burning wood and hoped that it was in a fire place. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, and didn't really want to. I wanted to stay like this forever; I was safe, and warm.  
I chill gripped my body for no more than a second, and caused me to inhale sharply. This set my ribs on fire, and I cried out. Then a wave of pain swept over my whole body. I tried to get up, find out what was causing the pain but that only made it worse.  
Hands were pushing me back down onto the bed, and someone was telling me to calm down. For a split second I remembered the hands that had grabbed me right after I had tried to kill my sister, and fear took over me. I tried to fight them off, I kept on repeating that I didn't mean to, but I was loosing.  
Something connected with my left cheek. It surprised me so much I froze and opened my eyes. I was staring up into the faces of two elves and a Mew.  
"It's all right you're safe. We won't hurt you. Just calm down and you'll be fine." one of the elves said.  
"Also," the other elf said, "could you let go of my arm please?" I was biting down on his arm and I didn't even realize it. I let go, and laid back down.  
"Who are you?" I said, my voice was thick with pain and exhaustion, "and where am I?"  
"We'd like to know a few things too." the mew said. She had returned to her spot on the hearth rug. She had short black hair and her black fur was shiny and sleek. She was short and pretty skinny. She wore about as much clothes as I did, which wasn't very much.  
"How about we alternate asking questions, we ask one then you ask one." one of the elves suggested.  
"All right." I agreed. "Who are you?"  
"I'm Legolas." the older looking elf answered.  
"I'm Celelas." the younger elf said. The two elves looked like brothers.  
"And I'm Analoren." the mew said.  
Those last two names sounded way too familiar, where had I heard them before?  
"Now, who are you?" Legolas asked.  
"I'm Narwakwesse." I said.  
"Where am I?" I asked since it was my turn again.  
"You're in Greenwood in the Elven King's Halls." Celelas answered.  
"Where are you from?" Analoren asked.  
"I'm from the Grey Mountains and the Misty Mountains, where they meet, Mount Gundabad." that was a bit of a long explanation, I wasn't thinking straight.  
"Why are you here then?" Legolas questioned.  
"Uh..." I thought about this one for a moment, then decided not to answer. "Could I have something to eat?" I asked evasively, I was starving.  
"Yes. Hey, you didn't answer my question!" Legolas retorted.  
"I don't have to. You said that we'd take turns asking questions, you never said anything about answering them." I said cleverly.  
"She's got a point" Analoren said.  
"She has you there." Celelas said.  
"Quiet, both of you." Legolas said, "One of you go get her something to eat, and the other one tell my father that the Gryphon has awoken, he'll probably want to talk to her."  
"I'll get the food." Analoren said, jumping up.  
"Guess that means I'll tell father." Celelas said. They both left, closing the door behind them.  
"Why won't you tell me why you're here?" Legolas asked more gently this time.  
"Because, like I said earlier, 'I don't have to.'" I responded firmly. "Who found me? I want to thank them."  
"Analoren did." he answered.  
"How long have I been out?" I squeezed in an extra question.  
"About a week." he answered, "You still have a slight fever, and you're really not well enough to leave yet." At length he said casually, "You know you talk in your sleep."  
Oh shit! What had I said?!  
"You said a lot of strange things." he answered my thought, "You kept talking about a book, and saying that you didn't mean to do something. Is that something you didn't mean to do the reason you're here instead of back home at Mount Gundabad?"  
"Yes." I said reluctantly, at least he didn't ask what it was I didn't mean to do.  
Silence took over the room, and I started to drift off again when the door opened. I was hoping it was the food and not the King. I was right.  
Analoren bounded in with a huge platter full of all kinds of food. "Wasn't sure what you'd like so I just asked for a sample of everything." she said as she put the platter down on the bedside table.  
I stared at the platter for a few moments trying to deiced where to start. After I had decided I reached out with my right hand, because I am right handed, and felt a paralyzing pain in my shoulder. I could barley move it without wanting to scream.  
"Oh, how could I forget." Analoren said, "You dislocated that shoulder. I bet it really hurts. Let me help you." She picked up the fork she had brought and, after picking out some heavily basted meat, held it in front of my mouth. I blushed, and ate it gingerly off the fork.  
I felt so helpless. I'd never had to have anyone feed me like this since I was a baby. I had too be propped up with pillows since some of my ribs were cracked and I couldn't do it without almost passing out from the pain. I couldn't even get out of bed thanks to the Warg bite on my leg I couldn't put any weight on it, and I couldn't use crutches since both my arms were injured, a large piece of the Nazgul's blade had broken off and shattered inside my left shoulder and, as hard as the Elves tried they couldn't get all the pieces out some were just too small to even see. Also, when I tried to use my wings to support me, I found out that my left wing had a stress fracture from where I'd fallen on it when the Fell Beast landed on me.  
Celelas came back with King Thranduil. Thranduil asked me about the same questions that everyone else already had, and then said that I could stay until I was healed and as long as I wanted to after that.  
Since I could do nothing but stay in bed and heal, I heard all about what had happened during the week that I had spent asleep, what had happened before that, and what was going to happen in the future.  
I heard all the latest news about what was going on in Middle Earth, and what all the relationships and alliances were about.  
Legolas was the prince of the Elven King's Halls in Greenwood. Celelas was his brother, I guess that made him a prince too. Celelas had had an affair with a vampire named Berekad'rak from Rhun. The affair was over but they still saw each other every once and a while as friends. Analoren was a mew ambassador from a pride in Greenwood. She also knew a pack of Arfs that lived in Greenwood too, and she had set up an alliance between the three of them plus the Lothlorien Elves and the fairies that lived in Firien Wood. She had friends all over the place. A fox arf named Inari, a fairy named Sehavain, a half fairy half mew named Windia, and plenty more. Of course she knew everyone that Celelas knew too. She had another Elvish friend named Erikwataware from Lothlorien who was the daughter of Galadriel. There was an annual meeting of everyone that had an alliance with the Greenwood Elves and I got to meet everyone. We all became instant friends.  
When I was well enough, Celelas and Analoren both suggested that I should take up weaponry. They said that I looked like I'd be a natural, and I was. I was a deadeye in archery, I was so strong that the only bow I could use and not break while stringing it was the Rabagrauk, a very ancient and powerful bow, not even Thranduil could string it. I was strong and unpredictable with swords and moved so swiftly and fluidly that Thranduil wanted to recruit me into his personal army. Most of the younger elves were either jealous of or really admired me. I could pick up any weapon and use it like a master. Of course I was also just as good at fighting without a weapon as I was with one.  
Eventually I picked out the weapons I liked the most, my bow and arrows, two Elvish short swords, an Elvish dagger, and a whip, all of which I could use like an expert. Thranduil gave me the best of each, he said with the skill I possessed I deserved no less, and finally I decided to join his personal army, I guess to thank him for everything he'd done for me.  
The years passed peacefully by. The Second Age ended the third began, and there were no more wars. Thranduil's armies were not needed; though, they stilled held together.  
One day, during our annual meeting of alliances, our group of eight; Analoren, Erikwataware, Berekad'rak, Inari, Sehavain, Windia, Celelas, and I, received letters of invitation via eagle messenger to Arnor asking us if we would like to come and continue our training and study elemental magic.  
Everyone agreed to go as soon as possible, and we also agreed that if we didn't go we probably be forced to by a superior so we figured we'd go willingly. Not that this was a bad thing, getting invited to go and study in Arnor was a great honor, but we didn't want to leave our homes and families. I hadn't left Greenwood since I got here and I was a little apprehensive about going so close to where I had been banished from.  
As the Gryphon flies it's about four hundred miles to Arnor, but most of that flying is back in the direction of Mount Gundabad. Arnor is just a little further west of there, but not much.  
No one knew that I had been banished from there. They had asked why I was here in Greenwood, but I never gave them a straight answer. Eventually they stopped asking and just let it be. So no one thought anything of it when we decided to take the most direct path there and go right by Mount Gundabad. Of course I didn't like this idea but I couldn't object lest I want a torrent of questions raised about why we shouldn't. I wouldn't be able to argue without revealing my secret and I really didn't feel like telling that to anyone just yet, maybe I never would. 


	7. The encounter

We got up early the day we planed to leave. All our things had been packed the night before so all we had to do was eat breakfast and leave. We were given one pack horse to carry our extra clothing and supplies. It's not like the trip was going to be a long one, two weeks at most, but we were going to stay at Arnor for a good long time, a few years at least, so we needed to bring all our belongings.  
We planed to follow the Forest River out of Greenwood, this would aim our path directly at Mount Gundabad, then, passing right by the Mount we would continue on to Arnor.  
"Look! We're going to pass right by your homeland, Narwakwesse!" Analoren pointed out. "Maybe we could spend a day there and you could show us around."  
My stomach lurched, "Um... Maybe not, I mean I'll think about it." I said with a nervous laugh. This could be bad, if I didn't convince them not to go near Mount Gundabad we could all be at risk because of me.  
As the days of our journey passed we drew ever nearer to Mount Gundabad, and I grew ever more anxious about the situation.  
Soon we were dangerously close to Mount Gundabad, in fact we could see almost all of it, when we set up camp that night. I volunteered to be the watch that night, since I doubted that anyone else in this group knew how to guard against a would-be attacking Gryphon.  
There was a full moon that night, a blessing, and a curse. No one could hide on a full moon. I picked a spot in the shade of some overhanging trees near the dying fire.  
The breeze had been blowing steadily from the west when all of a sudden it changed. Just a split second of wind from the opposite direction told me that the camp sight was being watched by a Gryphon. I sat unmoving, pretending I hadn't smelled anything out of the ordinary, hoping the other Gryphon would buy it. Then the wind blew toward me from that direction again, longer this time, and I smelled something that brought back so many memories of which I had locked away hoping I would never have to reopen them. Dark, hateful, painful memories, ones that could only be caused by one source, my sister.  
This disturbed me so much I stood up, and before I could stop myself, headed off in the direction of the smell.  
I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, I should have just ignored her, but somewhere in the back of my mind something was telling me that if I finished what I had left undone I would be better off. I was too tired, and too absorbed in finding my sister that I didn't argue with this strange logic, and just continued searching.  
A snapping twig, a whiff of a scent, and soon I was quite lost, but I didn't care I kept following the little hints, longing and dreading the creature I was determined to meet.  
Soon I was in a small clearing, it looked vaguely familiar. Something didn't feel right. I turned around just in time to dodge an attacking Gryphon.  
The Gryphon turned, and skidded to a stop about ten feet away facing me. She stood up, "Narwakwesse, it's been a long time."  
"Years, Karanikwesse." I said. Our eyes met, and locked.  
"You want to finish me? There's no one here to stop you. Go ahead." she tempted.  
"If you think that I'm going to attack you like I did the last time, with no regard to peril, then you're dead wrong." I warned taking up a fighting stance.  
"I was expecting nothing less." she said taking a fighting stance, "One more thing: no swords or weapons of any kind except for the ones you were born with. I want it to be just like last time." she of course wasn't caring any, no Gryphon around here was allowed to carry a weapon.  
I took off my weapons belt, and my quiver and bow, and tossed them behind a tree, not taking my eyes off my sister for an instant. I wasn't going to leave them in plain view of my opponent, "out of sight out of mind", if I couldn't use them neither could she.  
We stood there for who knows how long, sizing each other up, waiting to see who would make the first move. The wind blew and rustled the trees and the grass in the clearing. Then a cloud blew over the moon.  
I almost wasn't ready. I heard my sister take off, and prepared myself for her attack. There was a break in the clouds and I could see Karanikwesse's body stretched out, mouth open, claws extended, seemingly frozen in midair. Then the moon was gone and darkness consumed the field once more.  
I dodged a little left, and struck her on the right side of her face and her right shoulder. She twisted in mid jump using her wings, and got me in the same spots. Both of us were roaring in pain and frustration as we attacked each other with rapid dodging, slashing, twisting, undercutting, swerving, kicking, and weaving. We both appeared to be equally matched which made things all the more frustrating. We couldn't beat each other, but neither of us would admit defeat. We'd keep fighting until we destroyed the other, and our selves if it came to that. We shrieked insults and smart-ass remarks at each other, got even more pissed at one another, and fought even harder.  
I'm not sure how long we fought, but the moon was hanging quite low on the horizon when I heard a voice off in the forest next to the clearing say, "Narwakwesse, what do you think you're doing!?!?" it was Erikwataware.  
I was up in the air, preparing to attack Karanikwesse who was on the ground preparing to attack me. "Aren't you supposed to be asleep?!?" I shrieked back at her.  
"How are we supposed to sleep with this racket going on!?!" Inari answered me from some where in the trees.  
"Answer me Narwakwesse!!!" Erikwataware said threateningly, "What are you doing!?!?"  
"Finishing what I started!!!" I shrieked back as I dove at Karanikwesse.  
"I'm sorry," Erikwataware said solemnly, "but this is for your own good."  
I was two feet from completely crushing Karanikwesse when I heard five bows snap and feel five arrows bury themselves in me in various places. I screech as I received one final blow from Karanikwesse before she took off, and I rammed into the ground.  
I tried to get up, pull the arrows out, and continue fighting my sister, but I was crushed before I could.  
"Now just hold still and we won't have to do anything drastic." Celelas' voice floated down from the darkening sky above me. My hands feet and wings were being bound in a way even I couldn't escape.  
Suddenly I felt exhausted, and so limp, not because I had just been fighting like hell, this came on too fast. Then I realized, "You poisoned those arrows didn't you?!" I said thickly, trying to get up, but becoming defeated when everything started spinning.  
"Well yes, but it will only put you to sleep, it certainly won't kill you." Analoren said pulling one out. I recoiled and tried to get up again, only to be held down while she finished pulling out the other four. I was near fainting when she had finished, there was no way I would be able to get back to camp.  
Celelas sent Sehavain back to the camp sight to pack up, and bring the horse back here for it was to be my ride for the remainder of the journey.  
Just then Karanikwesse appeared in front of me. "You know, it's a good thing your friends stopped you because you would have lost." she said arrogantly, but she looked worse than I did.  
I tried to get up and say something witty, but I couldn't do either so I just flipped her off Gryphon style, and then, satisfied, fainted. 


	8. The recovery

(A.N. I did a lot more research and found out that Angmar was not created until around 1300 of the third age and this story takes place at the very beginning of the third age so I changed the name of Angmar to Arnor to be historically correct. Same place different name)

I awoke to find myself in a lavishly furnished, large, stonewalled room. The fire in the fire place was crackling cheerily, and the room felt quite warm. I looked around for a window to open and found a beautiful stained glass one. I tried to push the heavy silk quilt off of me so I could go open it, and realized just how much damage had actually been inflicted upon me.

I groaned, and suddenly felt sick and weak. I ached all over, and every time I so much as breathed, I felt sharp pains in the areas of movement. And I thought getting beat up by a Nazgul and Fell Beast was bad, ha, that was nothing compared to this. Why? Because this time it had been personal.

Left alone to think, I realized that I was a fool, and my friends were right. I had gone against all my rational thoughts for, what was it? My own satisfaction; I was being selfish and stupid.

After beating myself up mentally some more, and then waiting to see if anyone would come and see me, I fell asleep.

When next I awoke, it was to the smell of food and a growling stomach. I opened my eyes and sniffed around a little to figure out where that wonderful smell was coming from.

"Look who's up." Sehavain greeted cheerily. "Hungry?"

I nodded my head, practically drooling.

"Good, I'll go get you some breakfast and tell the others that you're awake." She got up to leave.

"Thanks. Oh, before you go, could you open the window, please? It's really hot in here."

She looked at me, "Hot? You must still have a fever. This is one of the colder, draftier rooms. I don't know why Valandil gave you this room. I suppose it is nice, but it's bloody cold." She then left, and returned a short while later with a large tray piled high with all kinds of different foods.

About fifteen minutes later, after I had finished all the food on the tray, Analoren came in and said, "Oh, hello, you're awake. If you're able to, one of the priests wants to see all of us."

I pushed the covers off of me and stood up. I was feeling much better than the day before, and I think the food had help a significant amount. "Yes, I think I'm able enough," I replied, as I walked over to the door, "Lead the way." I followed Analoren out the door with Sehavain close behind me.

Analoren lead us down a stone spiral staircase. As I looked out the windows, I noticed we were up very high; we must've been in a tower.

After our dizzying descent, we ended up in a grand hall, smelling of food and drink, with colorful tapestries covering every inch of what I figured was stone wall. About half way down the large wooden table, in the middle of the room, were two elves, one vampire, an arf, and a fairy-mew talking loudly and laughing.

"Narwakwesse, glad to see you're up." Inari greeted.

"Yes, you look much better than when you first arrived." Windia complemented.

"Uh... thanks. I'm glad to see you all too. Um... back there in the forest, I was being really stupid. I'm sorry." I apologized.

"Yes, I think we can all agree that it was stupid, but we're all glad that you're healing now." Erikwataware said.

"Who was that anyway?" Berekad'rak asked.

An awkward silence fell over the room. I looked down at the floor.

"Come on. We're wanted by the head priest." Analoren said, walking slowly off in the direction of another staircase.

"Right, we should go." Celelas said, getting up. 


End file.
